Auditor-General's report published, Auckland Council: How it deals with complaints

[25/8/16]

The Auditor-General’s report Auckland Council: How it deals with complaintswas presented to the House of Representatives this afternoon. A two-page summary is also available.

Complaints can be a valuable source of information for improving services and systems. How well an organisation deals with complaints can show how committed it is to providing a high-quality service to people.

Auckland Council takes complaints seriously and has a good process in place. It makes it easy for people to complain in various ways, including to any Council staff member or elected member. Staff will try to deal with the issue straight away. This report identifies examples of the Council changing its practices to improve services as a result of complaints and other comments.

The Council acknowledged that its complaints system had limitations, but the introduction of a new customer relationship management system provides an opportunity for the Council to review and systematically report on more comprehensive information to show how effectively it handles complaints. For example, it could collect more information from a complainant’s perspective.

The Council could also do more to inform the public and staff about improvements it makes to its services as a result of complaints and other information. This would increase confidence that the Council takes complaints seriously and acts on them.

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